A grand jury in Chicago has returned a 16-count felony indictment against former Empire actor Jussie Smollett, on filing a false police report when he claimed he was the victim of a hate-crime assault by Trump supporters, local media reported on Friday, citing court documents.

Smollett was previously charged in a criminal complaint with felony disorderly conduct, involving lying to police officers in relation to a supposed racist and homophobic attack in downtown Chicago on 29 January.

“Jussie Smollett knew that at the time … there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed,” according to the indictment, CBS Chicago said in a report on Friday afternoon.

Smollet had reported being attacked while walking home in the early hours. He told police two masked men – one of them wearing a red Make America Great Again hat – shouted racist and homophobic slurs as they beat him, said “this is MAGA country”, put a noose around his neck, and doused him with a chemical.